Formerly
Laccadive, renamed Lakshadweep (hundred thousand Islands) in
1973, is one of the most spectacular tropical Island
systems. The archipelago consist of 36 coral islands in the
Arabian Sea, about 185 miles (300 km) off the Kerala coast.
It consists of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged
banks.The atolls poised on submarine banks, harbour these
islands with a total area of 32 square km (12 square miles).
The islands form the smallest of the Union Territories of
India and the country's only coral islands.Though the land
area is extremely small, if considered its lagoon area of
about 4,200 sq km, 20,000 sq km of territorial waters and
about 7,00,000 sq km of economic zone, Lakshadweep is one of
the largest territories of our nation.This charming

isolated
destination has only 10 of its islands are inhabited. They
are Minicoy, Andrott, Kavaratti, Kadmat, Agatti, Amini,
Kalpeni, Kiltan, Chetlat and Bitra. Bitra is the smallest of
all having only a population of 225 (1991) persons.